Relating to the disclosure of certain harvest report information submitted to the Parks and Wildlife Department, the official text

S.B. No. 1248

AN ACT

relating to the disclosure of certain harvest report information

submitted to the Parks and Wildlife Department.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 11, Parks and Wildlife

Code, is amended by adding Section 11.0305 to read as follows:

Sec. 11.0305. DISCLOSURE OF HARVEST REPORT INFORMATION.

(a) Information from a report submitted to the department relating

to the recreational harvest authorized by Chapter 42, 46, 50, or 71

of game animals, game birds, fur-bearing animals, nongame animals,

alligators, or fish or other aquatic life, including the specific

location of harvested wildlife, may not be disclosed except as

authorized by this section or Section 12.014.

(b) Chapter 552, Government Code, does not apply to

information from a report described by Subsection (a).

(c) The commission or the department may disclose

information from a report described by Subsection (a) to a federal

or state law enforcement agency if the agency provides a lawfully

issued subpoena.

(d) The department may disclose statistical data and

compilations of information from a report described by Subsection

(a) in a manner that does not identify:

(1) any person who:

(A) submitted the report; or

(B) harvested wildlife as described in the

report; or

(2) any specific location information, including a

photograph, that could be used to identify the location where the

harvest of wildlife described in the report occurred.

(e) The department may disclose information from a report

described by Subsection (a) only to:

(1) an individual identified in the report or that

individual's representative;

(2) another governmental body, including a law

enforcement entity, as needed to carry out a governmental purpose;

or

(3) an entity contracted with the department that has

signed a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting the entity from

disclosing information from the report, if necessary for research,

analysis, or another activity the department determines to be

appropriate.

(f) This section does not authorize the department to

disclose information the department is prohibited from disclosing

by other law.

(g) The department and its officers and employees are immune

from civil liability for an unintentional violation of this

section.

(h) In this section, a reference to the department includes

a reference to an agent of the department.

SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a

disclosure by the Parks and Wildlife Department of information in a

report described by Section 11.0305(a), Parks and Wildlife Code, as

added by this Act, that is made on or after the effective date of

this Act, regardless of when the report containing the information

was submitted to the department.

SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.

______________________________
______________________________

President of the Senate
Speaker of the House

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1248 passed the Senate on

April 10, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0.

______________________________

Secretary of the Senate

I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1248 passed the House on

May 20, 2025, by the following vote: Yeas 124, Nays 22, two

present not voting.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

Approved:

______________________________

Date

______________________________

Governor